The phone calls - Missing scene from Target
by JustAWriterWannaBe
Summary: After they spoke to the FBI agent and Castle went home, Kate had a responsibility to fulfill. A missing scene from Target. S5:E15


_**Author's Notes:**_  
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.  
It takes place during Target S5:E15  
By all means, please leave me feedback/reviews on this or any of the other stories I've posted here.

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_**Story Notes:**_  
I did a quick update/edit of this because I felt that Kate would make _sure_ that Meredith didn't miss out on any homecoming with Alexis.

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_**Disclaimer:**_  
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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... "We find the van we find Alexis."

Walking back to her desk she realizes what she has to do. "Hey guys, I'm going to be in room two, I have to make a couple of phone calls." She calls out to her partners.

Picking up her phone she heads into interrogation room two. She now has a responsibility as his partner and friend to take care of him and his life. She closes the door and takes a deep breath before she pulls up her contacts list and hits the dial button.

"Paula?" ... "Yes, this is Detective Kate Beckett." ... "Yes, thank you and you too." ... "Paula, I'm sorry to interrupt, we can talk about that later if it's okay with you. Can you go some place private to talk for a moment?" ... "Yes, right now." ... "Thank you." ... "Please sit down. First off, Rick is physically fine. Something has happened here that I can't talk about. It is not a homicide so don't worry there. That's me wearing my official hat. Now, on a personal level, as Rick's partner, for the immediate future, maybe the rest of the week please don't call Rick." ... "No, like I said, he's physically fine. I can't tell you what is going on. Let me say this, the FBI is involved." ... "Until you hear from him again, all meetings, deadlines, whatever are put on hold." ... "Yes, I'm sure he will fill you in on things when it is all over. Until told otherwise, there is to be no mention of this." ... "I know, _I'm_ involved and I find it scary." ... "Yes, of course I'll tell him for you." ... "Here's the deal I'll make with you. If you need him and you have to have an answer, please call me, any time, day or night, either I'll take your call right away or I'll call you back as soon as I'm able." ... "Yes, it really is that bad." ... "I will. I'm intercepting his calls because quite frankly, if someone were to call him now, he'd go off the deep end and ruin his business relationships." ... "Yes, as soon as he can I'll make him fill you in." ... "Thank you. Again Paula, please keep this private." ... "Right, I'll update you if I possibly can. Thank you." ... "Goodbye."

She presses the "End Call" button and already feels the strain. Now, the next call. Again she scrolls through her contacts list and just before she presses the call button, she sits down.

"Hello Gina Cowell?" ... "Yes, this is Kate Beckett." ... "I need to talk to you, can you go somewhere private?" ... "Yes, right now, this is urgent." ... "No, Rick is physically fine. Please, sit down." ... "Thank you." ... "I have only limited ability to tell you what is going on. I'm involved but it is not a homicide. Something has happened here and as Rick's partner I wanted to tell you that Rick is going to be unavailable, possibly for as much as the rest of the week. All deadlines, meetings, appointments are suspended." ... "I know Gina, I would like to tell you but I simply cannot." ... "If you need to reach him for something urgent, please call me until he tells you otherwise." ... "Gina, I know your relationship with Rick goes back further than mine but I can assure you that if you were to call him right now, he'd break that relationship." ... "Yes, it's that bad. As a matter of fact, the FBI is involved." ... "No, that's all I can tell you." ... "I would if I could Gina, I'm sorry." ... "You can call me any time, day or night, if I can I'll take your call, if not, I'll call you back as soon as possible." ... "Thank you. I'll tell him. I don't think I need to tell you but I will anyway. No one is to hear of this until he talks to you again. I'm letting you know as a favor to my partner. Normally you'd be in the dark." ... "Thank you again Gina." ... "Yes. Thank you. Goodbye."

Now the hard part. This is the call that will take patience. She steels herself as she scrolls through her contacts. She takes a deep breath and presses "Call".

For what seems to be an eternity the phone rings before she picks up. "Meredith? This is Kate Beckett." ... "Yes, fine, thank you. I need to talk to you in private." ... "Yes, right now." ... "No, Rick's okay. Please sit down." ... "Meredith, I'm calling you as a favor to Rick. Something has happened and you need to know. I'm not sure Rick can handle calling you right now without exploding." ... "No Meredith, it's not you. There's no easy way to say this so I'll just dive in. Alexis has been kidnapped." ... "**Mer**.." ... "**Me**.." ... "**_Meredith!_** I'm calling you because you need someone level headed on this end of the phone. Rick is a disaster." ... "I know what he _should_ do but since he can't, _I'm_ calling you." ... "The entire precinct is working on this case along with the FBI." ... "Yes, really, the FBI. Like I said, I'm trying to help out here for Alexis." ... "Meredith, of course if you feel you need to be here I won't argue with you, it isn't my place to say if you should come here or not. However based on experience, there's nothing that being here sitting in a strange hotel room will do for you other than make you feel more helpless. I can't get into specifics for a whole lot of reasons." ... "No, we've sent Rick home, he's not involved in the investigation, he is a basket-case."

After a long deep breath she continues, "Of course you can call him if you need to but I'd like to suggest that you consider calling me first. If he's sleeping or dealing with the investigators you might get a better reception from me. You can call me any time, day or night. I'll talk to you and if Rick's even close to able, I'll give him the phone to talk to you." ... "I know that this is more than difficult. Alexis means a lot to everyone here so we're all working on this together." ... "No, she wasn't a target as far as we can tell. It seems that she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time with the person who was the target." ... "No Meredith, it has nothing to do with Rick or Rick working here with the police. However, since Alexis and Rick are part of our family here, everyone is involved and no one is going to rest until this nightmare ends. You have my assurances that I'm here for the whole family." ... "I will Meredith, for Alexis we'd all do anything. I will keep you updated constantly. As soon as we find out when Alexis will be coming home I'll make sure that you can get here on time." ... "I'm sorry to have had to tell you like this. I know you feel powerless but let me assure you that all the resources that could possibly be used are being applied." ... "No, Rick doesn't know I've called you yet. We just sent him home. I'm calling you because I know, despite anything else, you're her mother and you have to know and I don't think that Rick is in any state to talk to you without being difficult." ... "Yes." ... "I will. Is there anyone at your end that you can stay with?" ... "Good. Again, I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news." ... "Thank you. We'll talk again soon. Goodbye."

She hits the "End Call" button and feels her hands start to shake. A deep couple of cleansing breaths help. She sets her phone's alarm for every four hours. She will need to keep Meredith informed.

Now, one last call.

"Rick? No, nothing has changed. I wanted to let you know I called Meredith for you. I know how hard that call can be so I did it for you." ... "Yes. You're welcome." ... "Before you panic that you're going to get another redhead invasion, I told Meredith that she might do better staying where she is for now. I told her that as soon as we know when Alexis is coming home we'll make sure Meredith is included so she can get here for her." ... "Rick, I took it upon myself to call Gina and Paula and told them to not contact you if possible and I asked them to call me instead." A wide smile breaks on her face "Of course Castle you're my partner. Now go see Martha. We'll talk later. Okay." ... "Bye." and she hangs up.

"We need to get this done." she thinks to herself as she gets up, straightens her shoulders and heads back into the bullpen. Just as she opens the door Esposito calls over to her "Beckett, we've got something you should see."

"Whaddya got?" she asks as she approaches her team at the smartboard.


End file.
